Elevator systems are widely used in a variety of applications for transporting passengers from one point to another. In rare situations, such as during earthquakes, the elevator car in an elevator system may become disengaged with the rails. Typical contemporary elevator systems often include redundant braking (e.g. machine brake and safeties) for such situations. As such, increased requirements for elevators systems include rail to building interface and elevator car holding/braking systems. These additional requirements increase the overall cost of the system by adding mass to the elevator car, and potentially changing motor requirements.
Therefore, an improved braking system for an elevator system is desired.